GM Wesley So’s doppelgänger haunted him at Sinquefield 2015 which also happens at US soil where many of his followers did not forget all the brouhaha especially the game forfeiture between GM Akobian. His performance noticeably deteriorating. Although no news was reported of strange behaviour(like writing irrelevant letters in his scoresheet, or any distracting items that affects his games) but it seems that the mark left after the US Chess Championship last April this year. Uncharacteristic games was played by Wesley on his previous tournaments, I myself, who follows his games believe that his performance is not the Wesley i admire before. Lets set the example of his games at Turkish Isbank Super League last month in Turkey. I compile his games on that tournament and for me, Wesley’s game is drowning game after game. He can’t find ways to win after his lowly rated opponents.

Do you think its time for Wesley to rejuvinate himself? Find a good coach for the betterment of his dwindling chess career!

Below are games of Wesley So that, afer the single-round-robin format tournament at Sinquefield Cup, finished at the bottom of the standings. After the 9 games, his live rating performance was decreased by -12.9 and out of the top 10 at Live Chess Ratings website.

GM Magnus Carlsen games at Sinquefield Cup 2015 is also not in the good form.

Aronian bags the title with 6 points on 3 wins 6 draws and no loss.

Next to Wesley’s games below are games of GM Magnus Carlsen at Sinquefield Cup 2015. All games came from en.chessbase.com. With the annotation of an author and chess player and of course Grand Master himself, GM Alejandro Ramirez.

Sinquefield Cup 2015 final standings

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Sinquefield Cup 2015

The third edition was held from August 22 to September 3, at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis as the second leg in the 2015 Grand Chess Tour. The tournament featured the seven top players in the world, a feat only surpassed by the AVRO 1938 chess tournament. The Sinquefield Cup is also the strongest tournament featured in the 2015 Grand Chess Tour with an average FIDE Rating of 2795.

The 2015 Sinquefield Cup was a nine game, single round-robin tournament. The time control for each round was of 40 moves in 2 hours, followed by the rest of the game in 1 hour with a 30-second increment from move 41. Wesley So was selected as the tournament invite and joined the nine other players already participating in the Grand Chess Tour. – wikipedia.org

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Round 1

So vs Lagrave

MVL won his game against Wesley So. So’s greedy approach in the opening was severely punished. Despite having an extra pawn, his position was simply terrible. Black’s pieces were too active and controlled the board. After White had to give up his light-squared bishop for the opponent’s knight it was clear that So was just trying to survive. He was unable to do so, and MVL took his extra exchange to victory.

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. g3 Bg7 6. Bg2 c5 7. Qa4+ Nc6 8. Ng5 An unusual move, though the maneuver is well know. White wants to put his knight on e4 to target c5.8…e6 9. Nge4 Nb6 10. Qb5?! Going for the pawn, this is too dangerous.
10…c4 11. Na4? White is too greedy. He will win a pawn, but his position will be awful.
[11. O-O was a better move.]
11…O-O 12. Nxb6 axb6 13. Qxc4 e5 White is up a pawn, but Black has a huge initiative. Be6 is coming soon, Nd4 is up in the air, and White is not close to finishing his development. So will soon be punished.14. Qc2 Be6 Around this time So went in the confessional booth, claiming that he would have to work hard to not simply lose – he was aware that something went wrong.15. Nc3 b5! A very nice move. White cannot really take on b5: 16. Bxc6
[16. Nxb5 Nb4 17. Qd1 Bd5 18. f3 Qb6 Black’s position is so active and White can’t even castle.]16… bxc6 17. b3 Bf5 18. d3
[18. Qb2 b4 is just over.]18… e4! The bishops are way too powerful. So must give back material.19. dxe4 Bxe4 20. Nxe4
[20. Qxe4 Bxc3+-+]20… Bxa1 21. O-O Re8 22. f3 Bd4+ 23. e3 Bg7 24. Rd1 Qc7 25. Rd6 c5 26. Rd5 Re5 27. Rd1 c4 28. a3 Re7 29. bxc4 Qxc4 White’s position is no good, and he is down material. MVL cleans up from here.30. Qd2 Qb3 31. Qd6 Rc8 32. Nf2 Rec7 33. Bd2 Bf8 34. Qd4 Bxa3 35. Kg2 Bb2 0-1

Round 2

Giri vs So

A very blocked position arose from the English opening in Anish Giri vs. Wesley So. Perhaps the Dutch player had a very small advantage from the opening with the superior pawn structure, but it wasn’t much. Eventually So was able to position his pieces well and advance the queenside pawns, while Giri did not create any real threats. The game was drawn in an opposite colored bishop endgame.

Wesley So beat Alexander Grischuk, or more accurately, Grischuk beat himself in a position that was perhaps slightly uncomfortable but defensible. Alas, Grischuk went nuts and committed suicide by breaking through on f5, allowing So to win a pawn and the game.

The game of the day was without a doubt the beautiful destruction of Wesley So. Levon Aronian’s spectacular knight sacrifice was very well founded, and with White’s lack of development he was simply torn apart.

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. f3 c5 5. d5 O-O 6. e4 d6 7. Nge2 a6!? An interestig idea. The sacrifice 7…b5 was played in Grischuk-Topalov earlier this year, with a great result for the Bulgarian. Aronian changes his approach and prepares b5, and interesting idea. 8. a4 Ba5!? Nice understanding from the Armenian. This threatsn b5 again! 9. Bd2
[9.Ng3 b5 10. axb5 axb5 and Black is better.]9… exd5 10. cxd5 Nh5! A very uncomfortable move for So. Now it is unclear how to develop his pieces.11. g3 Nd7 12. Bg2 b5 Black has good play all around the board.13. g4? So tries to push back Aronian, but the Armenian does not give back any ground!
[13. O-O b4 14. Nb1 is ok for Black but White isn’t doing that badly.]13… b4 14. Nb1
[14. gxh5 bxc3 15. bxc3 Qh4+ is not pleasant.]14… Qh4+ 15. Kf1 Ne5! The start of a very strong attack. There is nothing White can do but accept the piece.16. Be1?!
[16. Qe1 Qf6 17. gxh5 Nxf3-+]
[16. gxh5 f5 is too strong. Black is tooa active, White has no plan and it is uncomfortable to defend. And yet, this was the best continuation.]16…Qf6! 17. gxh5 Nxf3 18. Bf2 Bg4! Keeping the initiative seems much stronger to me than to go for material with Qxb2.19. Qc1
[19. Bxf3 Qxf3 20. Rg1 Qh3+ 21. Ke1 f5-+]19… Nd4! 20. Nxd4 cxd4 Black’s attack is way too strong. The king is weak, So has no development… how to defend this position?21. e5 trying to get some squares.21…dxe5 22. Nd2 Rac8 23. Qb1 b3! 24. Nxb3 Bb6 25. a5 Ba7
[25… Rc2!! is brilliant, but everything wins.]26. Kg1 Bf5! 27. Be4 Qg5+ 28. Kf1 Qf4 d3 comes next, White’s position clearly collapses. 0-1

Round 5

Carlsen vs So

Magnus Carlsen was able to obtain some pressure from the opening. Despite being down a pawn, his dominant knight on d5 was too strong. The combination of the strong knight and the pawn expansion on the kingside made the Black king very uncomfortable. Wesley So committed a mistake even though it was hard to make moves. Carlsen missed several winning moves, but it didn’t matter; his position was good enough.

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e5 7. Nb3 Be6 8. f3 Nbd7 9. Qd2 b5 10. O-O-O Be7 11. g4 b4 12. Nd5 Bxd5 13. exd5 Nb6 14. Na5 Nbxd5 15. Nc4 Rare but possible. Dominguez used it many years ago to win a game against Predojevic. The idea is that White will seek compensation for his pawn by using the opposite colored bishops to restrain the d-pawn and create an initiative on the light squares. 15…Nxe3 16. Nxe3 O-O 17. Bc4 Nd7! After a long thing, this makes sense. The idea is that the knight will remaneuver to a more useful spot, like b6, and make the bishop on c4 uncomfortable.18. h4 a5
[18… Nb6 made more sense, but perhaps So didn’t want to allow Qxb4 19. Qxb4 d5 20. Qa5 unclear] 19. g5 Rc8 20. Bd5 Nb6 21. Kb1 Qc7 22. Rhf1 Nxd5 23. Nxd5 Qb7 24. f4 f5 White retains compensation for the pawn. His strong knight on d5 is untouchable, but a pawn is a pawn. 25. Qe3 e4 26. h5! White’s advance of this pawn is key. He will make Black’s position very uncomfortable as So cannot afford to open up the kingside. 26…Rc5 27. h6 g6 28. Qb3 So is in trouble, despite what the engines say. It is unpleasant to find moves and the king is always suffering. 28… Rf7 29. a4! Bd8 30. Rd4 putting on the squeeze. 30…Kf8 31. Rfd1 Rc6 32. Ne3 Bb6 what else? 33. Nc4
[33. Rxd6! was a big move, even if White retains the advantage in the game continuation. Rxd6 34. Rxd6 Bc7 35. Re6! The point is as follows: Bxf4 36. Nd5 Bxg5 37. Qc4! and the attack becomes too strong.]33… Bxd4
[33… Rxc4 34. Qxc4 Qc7 is no fun for So.]34. Nxa5 Qb6 35. Nxc6 Bc5
[35… Qxc6 36. Rxd4 and all of Black’s pawns are falling and the king feels unsafe.]36. Qd5 e3 37. a5! Qb5
[37… Qc7 was better resistance]38. Nd8! Ra7 39. Ne6+ Ke8 40. Nd4?
[40. Nxc5! was much stronger Qxc5 41. Qg8+ Kd7 42. Qxh7+ Kc6 43. Qxg6 and since e2 is not possible due to Qe8+ and Qxa5 isnt possible due to Qxd5+, Black is just lost.]40… Qxa5 41. Qg8+ Kd7 42. Qxh7+ Kc8 43. Qg8+ Kb7 44. c3 bxc3 45. Qb3+! Qb6 46. Qxb6+
[46. Qxc3! was very strong, though the move in the game should be better for white, Qxc3 seems winning. Black has too many problems to solve and his king is very weak.]46… Kxb6 47. bxc3 Bxd4 48. Rxd4 Kc6 49. Kc2 Ra2+ 50. Kd1 Rf2 51. Ke1 The pawn on h6 is just too strong. Black has no hope to hold. 51…Kd7 52. Ra4 Ke6 53. Ra8 Rh2 54. c4 Kf7 55. Rb8 Ke6 56. Rg8 1-0

Round 6

So vs Nakamura

Wesley So played a very strange game. He confidently blitzed out twenty moves of theory, clearly prepared. Unfortunately, after that every move he played lasted at least fifteen minutes and were rather unconvincing. At one point it was clear that he had violated a couple of positional rules, or maybe twenty, and he was punished with a brilliancy. Nakamura sacrificed everything, including the kitchen sink, and mated So on g6 in a must-see game.

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5 Ne7 9. Ne1 Nd7 10. f3 f5 11. Be3 f4 12. Bf2 g5 13. Nd3 Ng6 14. c5 Nf6 15. Rc1 Rf7 16. Kh1 h5 17. cxd6 cxd6 18. Nb5 a6 19. Na3 b5 20. Rc6 Up to this point So had played instantly. This is surprising as he has achieved nothing on the queenside. Nakamura continues his kingside attack.20…g4 21.Qc2 Qf8 22. Rc1 Bd7 23. Rc7? I don’t like this move at all. Releasing the tension on d6 and a6 is too lenient on Black’s position. Asked after the game what they thought of Wesley’s play, most of the players agreed that it looked completely wrong and anti-positional. “If it was White to move, I would consider playing Rc6 here” – Anish Giri.
[23. Nb4! Bxc6 (23… Bh6)
]23… Bh6 24. Be1 removing the bishop from potential g3 moves with tempo.24…h4 here the pawn on g4 is clearly poisoned to an experience KID player.25. fxg4 picking up the gauntlet, this is not good. That being said, I don’t know what else he could have done.25…f3 26. gxf3 Nxe4 27. Rd1? This makes things esay for Nakamura to calculate as almost every line wins.
[27. Rxd7 was a much better try. Rxf3! works anyway(27… Rxd7 28. fxe4)
28. Bxf3 Qxf3+ 29. Qg2 Qxd3 30. Rd1 Bd2!! is the key move. Nakamura did not see this, but he would have found that h3 instead of Bd2 was favorable for Black, and upon reaching this position probably would have found Bd2. 31. Bxd2 Nf4 and White is getting mated.]
[27. Nf2 Nxf2+ 28. Bxf2 Bxc1 29. Qxg6+ Rg7]
[27. Nc5! dxc5 28. Rxd7 Rxd7 29. Qxe4 Bxc1 30. Qxg6+ Rg7-+]27…Rxf3 28. Rxd7
[28. Bxf3 Qxf3+ 29. Qg2 Bxg4 is completely winning.]28… Rf1+! 29. Kg2 Be3! A very nice resource. There were other winning moves, but this is fantastic.
[29… h3+ 30. Kxh3 Rf2 was even more fantastic, and just as winning.31. Bxf2 Qxf2 32. Nxf2 Nf4+ 33. Kh4 Bg5#]30. Bg3
[30. h3 Nf4+ 31. Kh2 Nxd3 and with the elimination of the knight on d3 White’s dark squares fall apart.]30… hxg3 31. Rxf1 Nh4+ 32. Kh3 Qh6 White is up a rook, but his position is hopeless. He is simply getting mated. 33. g5 Nxg5+ The rest is a forced mating sequence.34. Kg4 every move wins here.34…Nhf3 35. Nf2 Qh4+ 36. Kf5 Rf8+ 37. Kg6 Rf6+! pretty but not the only way. 38. Kxf6 Ne4+ 39. Kg6 Qg5# 0-1

Round 7

Anand vs So

Anand saw himself in problems early in the opening against So. The Indian player mentioned that he must have done “something stupid” in the opening to get such a position, but was unable to pinpoint exactly what went awry. He was rather resourceful later on though, sacrificing a queen for a rook and a bishop after he had lost a pawn to obtain a situation in which Black’s king was somewhat uncomfortable, So’s pawns were weak and unable to advance. Anand took advantage of this to create a nice fortress, securing a draw.

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. d3 Bc5 5. Bxc6 dxc6 6. Nbd2 O-O 7. O-O Re8 8. Nc4 Nd7 9. b3 a5 10. a4 f6 This typical exchange Ruy Lopez type of structure has become more common as people are trying to avoid the endgame. However, it’s hard to say what White has in this position. He has no real pressure and Black has the pair of bishops. The awkward pawn structure is too vague to be exploited.11. Be3 Bb4 12. Rc1 b5 13. c3 Bf8 14. Nb2 Somehow I’m not convinced about putting a knight on b2.14…Nc5 15. Qc2 Bg4 16. d4 exd4 17. Nxd4 bxa4 18. Nxa4 Nxe4 Anand figured he had compensation at this point, but the position went south quickly. 19. f3 Nd6 20. Bf2
[20. fxg4 Rxe3 21. g5!? looks like some kind of aggressive try, but I don’t believe in it completely.]20… Bd7 21. c4 Qc8 22. Qc3 Nf5 23. Nc2 Nd6 24. Nd4 Nb7
[24… Re5!? 25. Bg3 Rh5 26. c5 Nb5 27. Qc4+ Kh8 28. Rfe1 Nxd4 29. Qxd4 was a suggestion by Anand. Still difficult for Black to win since the bishop on f8 is so bad.]25. c5! An important move, killing the bishop on f8 and making it hard for the knight on b7 to rejoin the game.25…Nd8 26. Nb2 Ne6 27. Nc4 Bxc5
[27… a4!? 28. bxa4 Rxa4 29. Nb2 Nxd4 30. Bxd4 is hard to make progress, but White just needs to defend and hope his fortress holds.]28. Nxe6 A queen sacrifice.28…Bb4 29. Nxg7 Bxc3 30. Nxe8 Bxe8 [30… Qxe8 31. Rxc3 Be6 32. Nd2 Bd5 33. Ne4 Bxe4 34. Re1 is still unclear, though the engines prefer Black.]31. Rxc3 The computers like Black a lot, but White is surprisingly close to a full fortress. Actually, if he gets his knight to c5, he will even be able to play for an advantage.31…Bf7 32. Nd2 f5 33. Rxc6 Anand didn’t want to play this, but he figured every pawn he took was a good thing.
[33. Nc4 Bxc4 34. Rxc4 Qb7 35. Rc3 is also close to a fortress.]33… Qd7 34. Rc2 Re8 35. Nc4 Bxc4 36. Rxc4 Re2 37. h3 Rd2 38. Re1 Rd1 39. Kh2 c6 your engine might say that this is better for Black, but the position is a dead draw after
[39… c6 40. Rxd1 Qxd1 41. Rc5! Qxb3 42. Rxa5 and there is no way the pawn on c6 ever makes it to c5.] 1/2-1/2

Round 8

Despite the fact that So-Topalov played over 50 moves, it didn’t last long in regards to playing time. Wesley So obtained a slight advantage somehow after Topalov made inaccurate form during the opening. Unfortunately, the position was so locked up that an incredible amount of precision was required in order to create even minor problems. So kept lashing out his moves, and was even above two hours on the clock (more than he started with, due to the extra hour at move 40) at some point. Topalov held comfortably in the endgame.

Caruana had a crushing position against So basically from the opening. The engines were screaming that Black was basically lost, but Caruana kept giving So opportunities to get back into the game. At the end of the day, enough mistakes allowed So to solidify his position and hold onto a draw.

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 b6 3. g3 c5 4. Bg2 Bb7 5. O-O g6 6. d4 cxd4 7. Qxd4 Bg7 8. Nc3 d6 9. Be3 Nbd7 10. Rac1 Rc8 11. b3 a6 12. Rfd1 O-O 13. Qh4 Re8 This position is without a doubt Karjakin’s specialty. He has proven that it is very solid and difficult for White to do anything.
[13… Rc7 is another possibility.]14. Bh3 Rc7
[14… Ba8 is what Karjakin has been playing lately, aiming for a quick b5.]15. g4 Qa8 These players also took a long, long time to get to this position, despite being played in several high profile games. Topalov mentioned that he thought this idea of Qa8 was “basically losing”.16. Bd4 h6 17. g5 hxg5 18. Nxg5 e6 19. Be3 Clearly something is wrong for Black. For starters, d6 is very hard to defend, and h7 being weak is annoying.19…Qb8 20. Bf4 Bf8
[20… e5 offered more resistance if Caruana found the right way, but it looks positionally disastrous.]21. Rxd6?
[21. Bxd6! was already almost decisive. For example: Bxd6 22. Rxd6 White’s up a pawn, but the tactics don’t work for Black Rxc4 23. bxc4 Qxd6 24. Qh8+! The point. Kxh8 25. Nxf7+ Kg7 26. Nxd6+-]21… e5 Now the game is rather complicated 22. Rxd7 exf4 23. Rcd1 Bg7?! 24. R7d3
[24. R7d6! advantage for White]24… Rce7 25. Bg2 Bxg2 26. Kxg2 Nh5 27. Nd5 Rxe2 28. Qg4 Qd6 The position nis completely unclear. Black has some activity, but his knight on h5 isn’t great and White has a powerful one on d5. 29. Qf3 Qc5 30. R3d2 R2e5 31. h4 b5 32. Rc2 b4 I don’t know what So gained from closing down the queenside like this. 33. Rcd2 a5 34. Qg4 Bh6 35. Kf1 Rf5 36. Nf3 Bg7 By this point the players were in serious time pressure. 37. Qg2 a4 38. Rd3 Qa5 39. Ng5 axb3 40. axb3 Bf8 The last move of time pressure, but it lands Black in a little bit of trouble 41. Qf3 Bc5 42. Ne4 Kg7 43. Nxc5 Qxc5 44. Rd4 Kh6 45. Qd3 Kh7 46. Qf3 Re6 47. Kg1 The computers prefer White, but neither side saw a good way of improving their position.47… Qa5 48. Kg2 Kh6 49. R1d3 Qd8 50. Qg4 1/2-1/2

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Magnus Carlsen games at Sinquefield Cup 2015 is also not in the good form.

Below are games of GM Magnus Carlsen at Sinquefield Cup 2015. All games came from en.chessbase.com. With the annotation of an author and chess player and of course Grand Master himself, GM Alejandro Ramirez.

GM Magnus Carlsen not in good shape at Sinquefield Cup 2015. Photo courtesy of en.chessbase.com and Sinquefield Cup 2015

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Round 1

Carlsen vs Topalov

A spectacular series of fireworks in the Carlsen-Topalov game. Topalov opened with a crazy novelty: 7…g5!? which apparently had been analyzed in an article recently. Carlsen sacrificed a piece for two pawns as an initiative, but the Bulgarian was unfazed. He defended well, Carlsen continued to be aggressive, but it was to no avail. The attack never crashed through, and the pawns were not enough compensation for the extra piece. In a big time scramble Topalov won with his extra material.

Fabiano Caruana against Magnus Carlsen was a heartstopper. In a position that was very interesting, both players simply let their clock run out way too low. An unbelievable time scramble occurred, with both players falling to mere seconds to make their final moves. The engine evaluations kept changing wildly as the game became a bullet battle. On move 40, Caruana made a horrific blunder with only seconds left on his clock. He resigned as soon as he made time control.

Next, Magnus Carlsen converted a slow position against Maxime Vachier-Lagrave. The Frenchman came out worse from the opening, but he had some chances to defend properly. He missed them, and Carlsen’s advantage started to grow. Eventually very precise play was required from MVL, but he was not up to the task. He lost a pawn, then another, and ultimately the game.

1. Nf3 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 c5 5. d4 cxd4 6. Nxd4 O-O 7. Nc3 Qc7 8. Nd5 A position that has been played many times. Wang Hao has had it more than three times with white. 8…Qxc4!? Perhaps surprised by the opening, MVL goes for a strategically dubious move.
[8… Nxd5 9. cxd5 Qa5+ 10. Bd2 Qb6 11. Bc3 e5!? Wang Hao – Grischuk, 2014. Grischuk eventually won that game.]9. Nxe7+ Kh8 10. Nxc8 Rxc8 11. O-O pair of bishops and a problem with the isolated pawn on d7. White has a slight edge, no doubt about it. 11…Nc6 12. Be3 Ng4 13. Nc2 Of course, White retains his advantages. 13…Nxe3 14. Nxe3 Qe6 15. Nd5 Bxb2 releasing some tension. Black’s best bet is to reach some kind of opposite colored bishop endgame. His position is uncomfortable, but very far from lost. 16. Rb1 Be5 17. Rxb7 Rab8 18. Rxb8 Rxb8 19. e3 Rb2 20. a4 Ne7?!
[20… Qd6! with close to equality.]21. Nf4 Bxf4!? Resourceful! Black gives up his bishop to try to create weaknesses in the opponent’s position. Taking with the g-pawn weakens the kingside, taking with the e-pawn exposes f2. 22. exf4 Qb6 23. a5! Qc5
[23… Qxa5 24. Qd4+ is no bueno.]24. Qxd7
[24. a6 d6]24… Ra2 25. Qd3 surprisingly, it isn’t easy to take on a5.
[25. Qb7 Kg7 26. a6 h5 ]25… Kg7
[25… Qxa5 26. Qd6! Ng8 27. Qd4+ is very uncomfortable.]
(25… Rxa5 26. Qd2 Rb5 Carlsen thought that this was the best way for Black. White will eventually take on a7, but the 4v3 on the kingside is not necessarily won.)]26. a6 h5 also somewhat surprisingly, Black doesn’t have to take the a-pawn! With the weakness on f2 it isn’t easy to make progress. 27. Bb7 Nf5 28. Qe4 Nd6 29. Qb1 Rd2 30. Qa1+ Kg8 31. Bg2 Nf5 32. Qe5! Black really doesn’t want to trade queens, but on the other hand the remaining pieces would be more active than White’s… a tough choice in practical play. 32…Qxe5 33. fxe5 Re2 34. Rb1! The a7 pawn is now very weak. This variation is the reason I don’t believe Black should have traded queens. 34…Rxe5 35. Rb7 Re1+ 36. Bf1 h4 37. Rxa7 h3 Black tries to create random complications, but there is nothing here. 38. Rd7! Ra1 39. g4
[39. a7! Kg7 40. g4 Nh4 41. f4 Ng2 42. Kf2 Nxf4 43. g5 finishes the game. Black is basically in zugzwang: Ra2+ 44. Kg3 Ne6 45. Bc4 with a winning position.]39…Nh4 40. Rd3 Ng2 Time trouble is over and White is up two pawns for no compensation. 41. Rxh3 Nf4 42. Rf3 g5 43. Rb3 after some thought, MVL decided that two pawns was too much. Two victories in a row for the World Champion. 1-0

Round 4

Giri vs Carlsen

Next was Giri-Carlsen. The World Champion used the Sveshnikov Sicilian, not the most fashionable but strong enough in many circumstances. Giri was unable to put any real pressure on his opponent and again the opposite colored bishops reared their ugly head.

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e5 The Sveshnikov Sicilian. It goes in and out of fashion, and Carlsen playing it might bring some attention back to a defense that is largely overlooked, despite the fact that there is no definite refutation of it. 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8. Na3 b5 9. Nd5 Be7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. c3 Ne7 One of several possibilities Black has at his disposal. Krasenkow likes to play this move. 12. Nc2 Nxd5 13. Qxd5 Rb8 14. Nb4 Bb7 15. Qd3 O-O 16. Be2 a5 17. Nd5 b4 Giri took some time to get to this position, but Carlsen reached it relatively quickly. Black shouldn’t have any real problems in this position. This vriation has been played a couple of times. White might be able to pressure slightly on the light squares but it won’t big a big deal. 18. O-O bxc3 19. bxc3 Bg5 20. Rab1 Qd7 21. Rb3 Bc6 22. Rfb1 Rxb3 23. Rxb3 g6 24. Rb6 Rc8 25. h3 Bxd5 Even this move was maybe unnecessary.
[25… h5 26. Ra6 Bxd5 is safer: 27. Qxd5 Rc5! a nice intermezzo. 28. Qxd6 Qxd6 29. Rxd6 Rxc3=] 26. Qxd5 Rxc3 27. Rxd6 Qe7 28. Bd1 Rc7 29. g3 Kg7 White has a very minor amount of pressure, but this is way closer to a draw. Black’s bishop isn’t the greatest but White can’t create threats, so it will eventually remaneuver. 30. Ba4 Bc1 31. Rc6 1/2-1/2

Round 5

See Wesley vs Carlsen

Round 6

Aronian – Carlsen

The first couple of results of round six were far from interesting. Many predicted that while Aronian would push slightly against Carlsen, he would try to do so with minimal risk and minimal chance of succeeding. In effect, the World Champion was able to equalize without difficulties and the game was drawn.

Carlsen’s game was rather strange. He didn’t like his position from the opening, but at some point it seemed clear that the game would end in a draw. An endgame with equal pawns and opposite colored bishops seemed to seal the deal. However, the World Champion was rather careless and lost a pawn. Grischuk tortured Carlsen for a long time, until eventually Carlsen, in the bitter end, blundered.

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5 7. Nb3 Be7 8. Be3 Be6 9. Qd3 repeating the line that Anand played against MVL earlier in the tournament.9…Nbd7 Grischuk was having none of that endgame, instead he decided to allow a knight to d5, changing the pawn structure.10. Nd5 O-O 11. O-O Bxd5 12. exd5 Rc8 As is typical in the Najdorf, White exchanged a piece on d5 and now his structure has a majority on the queenside. However Black has good dark-square control and the b3 knight is very bad, it will take some time to regroup it. 13. c4 Ne8 14. Qd2 b6 Around here Carlsen mentioned that he didn’t like his position, but to be fair there is nothing immediately wrong with it. In the long-term, however, Black’s plan seems more obvious than White’s.15. Rac1 a5 16. Na1 No one wants to play this move, but it has a sneaky idea. Also it causes Grischuk to start thinking heavily.16…g6 17. b4!? Ng7
[17… axb4 18. Nc2 is the point, as the knight quickly heads to c6. Grischuk declines from taking in order to keep control of b4.]18. bxa5 bxa5 19. Bd3 Nc5 20. Bc2 a4 21. Rb1 White’s knight on a1 is awful, but he has control of the b-file, pressure on a4 and the pair of bishops. It is hard to say who is better.21…e4!? Changing the position. White is happy to trade his c4 pawn for the e5 one though. 22. Bxc5 Rxc5 23. Bxa4
[23. Qe2!? is a little more ambitious Qc7(23… f5!?)
24. Bxa4 Rxc4 25. Bc6 slight advantage to white]
[23. Bxe4 Rxc4 24. Qd3=]23… Rxc4 24. Bc6 Nf5 25. Qe2 Rc3 26. Qxe4 Ra3 White wins the pawn on e4, but thanks to this strong rook the a2 pawn is doomed. The position looks rather drawish.27. Qe2 Bf6 28. Nb3 Qe7 29. Qxe7 Nxe7 30. Nd2 Rxa2 31. Nc4 Rd8 I was expecting the players to sign the scoresheets around here, but Carlsen started playing very strange moves.32. g4?
[32. Rbd1=]32… Bd4 33. Rbd1 Bc5 Suddenly White is just worse. He has problems with his d5 pawn and the pressure on f2.34. Rd2 Rxd2 35. Nxd2 Nxc6 36. dxc6 Rc8 37. Ne4 Rxc6 38. Rd1 The extra pawn is hard to convert, but from here on out Grischuk will torture the World Champion.38…h6 39. h4 Kf8 40. Kg2 Ke7 41. Rc1 The endgame is unpleasant, though surely a computer would hold it.41…Rc8 42. Kf3 Ke6 43. Rc2 Rc7 44. h5!? Commital. Some grandmasters analyzing the game didn’t like this move.44…gxh5 45. gxh5 Bb6 46. Re2 Bd4 47. Kg3 d5 48. Nd2+ Kf5 49. Kg2 Be5 50. Nf3 Bf6 51. Ra2 Rd7 52. Ne1 Rc7 53. Kf3 Bg5 54. Ra5 Ke5 White is suffering, but it’s not so easy to make progress. The blockade on d3 will hold on strong. 55. Ke2 Ke4 56. Ra4+ d4 57. f3+ Kd5 58. Ra5+ Kc4 59. Nd3 Re7+ 60. Re5 Re6
[60… Kc3 was winning, according to Komodo, but the truth of the position is still not clear to me.]61. f4 Bf6 62. Rxe6 fxe6 63. Nf2??
[63. Kd2! was the only way to hold the position. There seems to be no way to break down the position.]63… Be7! White will soon be zugzwanged.64. Ng4 Kc3 65. f5
[65. Kd1 Bf8 66. Nf2 d3 is winning.]
[65. Nf2 Kc2 66. Nd3 Ba3 67. Nf2 Bd6 68. Nd3 Kc3 with a zugzwang.] 65… exf5! Only move. 66. Nxh6 Kc2! The pawn is unstoppable. 0-1

Round 8

Carlsen vs Nakamura

The American player very clearly was in trouble straight from the opening. Kasparov came around to talk about the game with me and he was saying how it was a position that Carlsen and he had analyzed a few years ago, and that Black wasn’t lost, but it was very very bad. Slowly the World Champion pushed Nakamura around, got a winning position and then made mistake after mistake. Somehow Nakamura was able to create counterchances in what should have been a straightforward win. Eventually, after a long torture, he survived.

In the game between Anand and Carlsen, and much like their World Championship matches, the Norwegian decided to stick to his Berlin defense. Both players played rather slowly, perhaps unfamiliar with the variation. Anand mentioned looking at this variation in the past but could not recall the specifics. Carlsen was able to trade into an opposite-colored bishop position and draw the game.

World Champion Magnus Carlsen plummeted his career rating minus 22.7 in his 9 classical games on 2015 Norway Chess. Probably the worst performance I’ve seen on him. On round 1, he surprisingly lost to GM Veselin Topalov on a winning position via time forfeiture. And this probably affected psychologically on his performance. Then followed by smashing victory of Fabiano Caruana in round 2 who is fresh from switching federation from Italy to USA. Viswanathan Anand masterfully beats Carlsen on round 4 then compatriot and friend Jon Ludvig Hammer finished his worst performance in the final round. Below the 9 games of GM Magnus Carlsen with reports originally from Chessbase.com and annotated live by the great chess author, annotator and GM himself Alejandro Ramirez. Games are written from last round going to the opening game. Enjoy!

The 3rd annual Norway Chess elite grandmaster tournament is held from June 16 to 26 in Stavanger, in the Southwest of Norway. World Champion Magnus Carlsen leads a stellar field that includes eight players from the world’s top ten. This year the tournament is the kickoff event for the new Grand Chess Tour. Uniting Norway Chess with the Sinquefield Cup and the London Chess Classic.

Norway Chess has in only a matter of a few years grown to be one of the world’s biggest chess tournaments. Norway Chess has proven from the start to be a world-class event. Magnus Carlsen is the proud ambassador of Norway Chess and we have had top ranked players as well as prominent guests such as chess-legend, Garry Kasparov who will return again this year.

It is almost incomprehensible that the World Champion played this way today. Everything was bad about his play: his opening, his strategical comprehension, his tactics. He even got mated in the simplest of ways today:

An absolute disaster for the World Champion. Here he is realizing that he is about to get mated by Hammer’s rooks. He lost 23 rating points in this tournament, lost four games, and this is easily the worst tournament ever played by Carlsen after obtaining his GM strength.

A short game, but one that was relatively interesting. Carlsen, tongue in cheek, mentioned that people “should not try this at home” – mentioning that the variation that he chose was extremely risky. Ironic, for two reasons: first that it was obvious he had played this position in his home during an analysis session, and second because he played it in Norway!

Carlsen obtained nothing from Nakamura’s ultra-solid opening. He kept declining repetitions, but the position was simply not going anywhere. He finally managed to win a pawn, but by that point Nakamura had managed to exchange most of the pieces and he simplified all the pawns on the queenside. The resulting 4v3 on the kingside with rooks on is a theoretical draw, and Nakamura defended perfectly, making it look easy.

What a respite for the World Champion! A much needed win after the rest day, and the atrocious start that Carlsen had. He played a decent game, that as he mentioned got interest only after a certain point. Grischuk seemed to have a decent position, but his time pressure trouble, which was completely unnecessary, basically cost him the game:

14… Nbd7 15. a4 c5 16. d5 c4 17. Bg5 Bg7
[ 17… h6 is massively more popular, but the idea of playing Bg7 without h6 has also been seen. ]

18. Qd2 It’s difficult to kick out this bishop from g5 now, which is why most players prefer to put the pawn on h6 before White can do this.

18… Rb8 A novelty, and not a very impressive one.
[ 18… Nc5 was seen in the old game Kuzmin-Spassky, 1973! ]

19. Nh2! A very classical idea. Anand swings the knight to g4 to exploit the weakness of the dark squares around Black’s king.

19… Bc8 20. Ng4 “I was kicking myself for not taking on b5 first!” was Anand’s reaction after the game. That being said, it is possible that there is no need to take on b5 just yet.
[ 20. axb5 axb5 21. Ng4 ]

21… Bxh6
[ 21… Kf8 22. Re3 with Rf3 next move is too dangerous. Black cannot afford to play like this, so he must give up the bishop. Grischuk mentioned that something went wrong in Black’s game if he was forced to give up the darksquared bishop. ]

22. Bxh6 bxa4 Black’s counterplay on the b-file is not terribly threatening. White has several ideas on how to proceed, but Anand chooses a very direct and aggressive way – but first he must close the hole on b2.

23. Ra2 a3 24. bxa3 Nfd7 25. f4 All-in. White desires to attack on the kingside, specifically by launching his f-pawn forward and backing it with his rooks on the f-file.

25… a5?! Carlsen believes he has some counterplay based on the activity of the bishop on a6 and the weakness of d3, but this is not the case.
[ 25… exf4 26. Qxf4 Qf6 27. Qe3 Ne5 is still a very complicated game. ]

26. Rf1 f6 As Anand said after the game, this is already a concession.
[ 26… exf4 27. Qxf4 Ne5 28. Bg5 and it looks very dangerous to be so weak on the darksquares, but Black’s position already looks to be bad. ]

27. f5! Excellent. This binds Black’s pieces on the kingside and White will transfer his queen to the g4 square.

27… Nd3! Trying to create counterplay. Carlsen will be happy to give up this pawn if it means that he will have play on the queenside and if it slows down the attack on the kingside.

28. Bxd3 cxd3 29. Qd1! A nice move, perfect in Anand’s style. The queen will swing over to g4 to put pressure on g6, not bothering to take on d3 just yet.

29… Re7 30. Raf2 Rf7 31. Qxd3
[ 31. h4 was more precise, and some engiens give it as a decisive advantage already! However there is nothing wrong with first taking the pawn. ]

31… Nc5 32. Qf3 Ba6 33. Qg4! An important move. Now White does not slow down and the attack on the kingside cannot be resisted. Black could try to move Bc8, pinning the f-pawn, but that is just sad.

33… g5 34. h4 Bxf1 35. Rxf1 Qd7 Anand was running low on time, so he decides to take a very pragmatic route.

36. hxg5 fxg5 37. Qh5
[ 37. Bxg5 was also good. ]

37… Kh8 38. f6 Whtie will at the very least regain his exchange with a bishop check on g7.

It was clear that the World Champion was going for blood against one of his most difficult opponents… Carlsen has yet to defeat Giri in a classical time control tournament, while Giri defeated Carlsen in their very first encounter in Tata Steel 2011!

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 The Berlin seemed to many as the logical choice. Carlsen had just lost a game in the strangest of fashions, and going for Caruana’s throat after that might not have been so smart. That being said – I think that Caruana is one of the best players, if not the best player in the World, in the Berlin.

24. Nexg7 Bf8 The tactics don’t work out for Carlsen. Caruana can’t retreat his knight immediately. but he has a trick up his sleeve.

25. e6 Bxf5
[25… fxe6 26. Nxe6 gives Black no chance to take the hanging knight on f5, since there is a checkmate threat on d8.]

26. Nxf5 fxe6 27. Ng3 The resulting position is equal in pawns, but Caruana is dominating. His knight has several excellent anchor spots, including h5 and e4. His pawn majority on the kingside will be impossible to stop and Black’s king is cut off from the kingside. He makes the rest look very easy, which it was.

The news of the day! Carlsen was doing his Carlsen thing: he played a relatively solid opening, tried to put on some pressure, created an advantage out of nothing, tortured his opponent in the endgame… and Topalov cracked. The final position is lost for Black:

However, the unthinkable happened… Carlsen flagged! Thinking that he had an extra 15 minutes on move 60 cost him the game, as there was no time addition. Instead he simply lost when he overstepped the time limit. Heartbreaking, as he is completely winning.

The arbiter announced the time control just before the start of the game… but Carlsen arrived late! He did not hear the announcement, mistook the time control and simply lost.

The Vugar Gashimov Memorial, was held in Shamkir, Azerbaijan, from the 17th to the 26th of April, in memory of the great GM Vugar Gashimov, who passed away on the 10th of January 2014. The tournament consists of some of the strongest players in the World: reigning World Champion Magnus Carlsen, former World Champions Viswanathan Anand and Vladimir Kramnik, as well as, Fabiano Caruana, Anish Giri, Wesley So, Maxime Vachier-Lagrave, Michael Adams, Shakhriyar Mamedyarov and Rauf Mamedov competed in this prominent event.

While two of my sought top Chess GMs in this present generation, Wesley So from the PH but decided to switch Federation to USA and world champ and top ranked Magnus Carlsen of Norway whom I admired most of the style of games. Following games both of this two young phenom compiled with the games annotated by www.chessbase.com author, writer and Grand Master himself, Alejandro Ramirez.

Two young phenom GM Magnus Carlsen and Wesley So during their 8th round encounter at Gashimov Memorial in Shamkir 2015, photo from http://www.shamkirchess.az

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Round 1

Wesley So 1-0 Anish Giri

Head-to-head match between Giri and So was 3-0-3 (Win-loss-draw) before the Gashimov tournament. This time Wesley won via 32 moves English opening even after a dissapointing performance in US Chess Championship 2015.

1.c4 g6 2.e4!? e5!? Modern Chess! Already we are mostly out of theory.

3.d4 Nf6 3…d6 might transpose back into a King’s Indian Defense, but we wouldn’t want that would we?

4.dxe54.Nf3 exd4 5.e5 Ne4 6.Qxd4 Bb4+ was the game Nakamura-Svidler from a 2013 Grand Prix. It was also Svidler-Carlsen from 2014, but that was a blitz.

4…Nxe4 5.Bd3 Bb4+ 6.Kf1!6.Nd2 was a completely wacko game between Kortschnoj-Timman back in 1976!

6…Nc5 7.Nf3 The opening can hardly be called a success for Black. White cannot castle, but besides that everything is going well. His development will be faster than Black’s. Giri also has to worry about his dark squares on the kingside.

7…Ne6 covering g5.

8.a3 Be7 9.Nc3 d6 10.exd6 Bxd6 11.b411.Bh6 was also possible, So prefers the fianchetto and the queenside expansion.

11…Bf8!? It’s hard to guess that this bishop mas already moved three times. It will move a fourth to g7, definitely its best square.

12.Qe2 Bg7 13.Bg5 Bf6 a fifth time?!

14.Bxf6 only to be traded. This leaves Giri in a position with basically no development. It is not surprising that So’s attack will be very strong.

14…Qxf6 15.Qd2 0-0 16.Re1 Qd8 17.Rd1! a5 18.h4! White’s simply crashing through. Without Black’s pieces being active it is clear that the king will find it difficult to survive.

22.hxg6 fxg6 23.Qe3 Qe7 24.Bc4 bxc5 25.b5! There is no need to retake the pawn. White simply pushes his own pawn in order to prevent counterplay.

25…Rb8 26.Re1 Rb6 27.Na4 Material losses are now inevitable.

27…Rd6 28.Nxc5 Ng4 29.Qe4 Nxf229…Nf6 30.Qh4 is of no help, the simply threat of Ng5 cannot be parried.

30.Kxf2 Rd2+ 31.Kg3!31.Kf1?? Qxc5 32.Bxe6+ Kh8 33.Qh4 h5! and despite being down a pawn this position is far from easy. Black has a subtle point: 34.Bxc8 Rxf3+? 35.gxf3 Qxb5+ 36.Kg1 Qb6+ 37.Kf1 Qb5+ with a draw. Grandmasters are very tricky!

31…Rxf3+31…Qxc5 32.Nxd2+-

32.gxf3 Black doesn’t have a lot of checks and he is down a huge amount of material. 1–0

10. b3 Ne4?! The beginning of Black’s real problems. This trade is normally quite desirable on e4, as Black obtains a good square on d5 for his other knight and retains solid chances. However here, specifically, he is unable to do anything like that because of his slow development.

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 d5 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Bg5 This move-order is a relatively rare guest at the top level, but it is still very solid.

5…c6 6. e3 h6 7. Bh4 Be7 8. Bd3 Nbd7 9. f3 It’s very rare to start with this move, but it cleverly avoids the Nh5 ideas. Here the bishop would simply retreat to f2. The minus side is that White has committed to playing the f3-e4 type plans.

21…axb3 22. Qxb3 Bxf5 23. Bxf5 It’s hard to evaluate the position. White has some obvious structural problems, but he does have the pair of bishops and good activity whereas Black’s pieces are a little awkward.

23…Rb8 24. Qc2 b4 25.axb4 Bxb4 26. Re2 Qa5? This seems to be the real start of Black’s problems. Adams underestimates the weaknesses that will be left after Bh4. 26…Bd6 27. Bh4? (27. Rb1=) 27…g5?

18…fxg618…hxg6 19. e5 dxe5 20. Bxe5± and there are problems with the knight on f6 lacking defense.

19. e5! 19. Bxa7 seems to be possible, but it hands the initiative over to Black after Bc6 and even though it shouldn’t compensate a full pawn, it is, from a practical point of view, better to keep material even and a strong position.

23. Rxf8+ Rxf8 24. Bxg7 Kxg7 25. Rc1 Nxc3 26. Rxc3 Bd7 Material is even, but Black’s position is horrible. White’s pawns on the queenside are fast and Black’s e-pawn is more of a weakness than anything.

10. Ng5!? Putting pressure on f7 even seems silly. White might be trying to provoke h6 weakening g6. So was in no mood to oblige, but one does wonder how that could be a bad move. 10. a4 was Caruana-So from Wijk Aan Zee this year. 10…b4 11. Nd5 Nxd5 12. Bxd5 c6=

10… Nc6 The knight strangely goes back to c6 – the idea is that now Nd4 is possible since the knight went to g5. (10… h6 11. Nf3 (11. f4!? {is another matter entirely, and probably Anand’s idea.}) 11… Nbd7=)

11. Ba2 Nd4 12. Ne2 Exchanging the intruder.

12…Nxe2+ 13. Qxe2 h6 Initiating the fight! This move is very commital, even though it doesn’t appear to be so. White cannot retreat and hope for any kind of advantage, so Anand goes all in.

14. f4!? hxg514… exf4 is very interesting. I wonder what it is that Anand was planning on doing here… The players did not mention it during the press conference.15. Nxf7 (15. Bxf4 hxg5 16. Bxg5-+) (15. Nh3?)
15… Rxf7 16. Bxf7+ Kxf7 17. Bxf4 doesn’t seem sufficient.

15. fxg5 Ng415… c6 16. gxf6 Bxf6 17. Be3 is very pleasant for White.

16. g6 White must have enough for the piece, but there are very important details.

27…gxh6 White is obviously better in this position. Black cannot avoid Qg4, h4-h5, creating a protected passed pawn on g6. The only issue is how is White going to break through after that.

28. Qg4 Qf6 29. h4 d5 It’s hard to suggest a way to hold the position together, and it would take quite a bit of analysis to determine if Black can somehow hold.

30. h5 d4 31. b4! This position, however, is quite clear. White will penetrate on the queenside slowly. The pawn structure is such that there are no perpetuals, queen trades are impossible. Anand wraps up with great technique.

7…a5 8. O-O Be7 9. d5 Na6 10. Nfd4 Nc5 11. Re1 O-O 12. e4 It’s hard to understand what Black really wanted from this opening. White now has a strong center, more space and no real weaknesses. The strong knight on c5 does not compensate fully for the b7 bishop.

12…e5 13. Nf5 d6 14. Bg5 White’s pressure on the kingside is very obvious. Black is simply trying to be solid.

14…Nxd5?! But well, there goes that idea, bring on the fireworks! 14… Bc8 15. Nxe7+ Qxe7 16. f3 is unpleasant, but nothing more than that.

15. Bh6! gxh6 16. Qg4+ Bg5 17. cxd5 Black “won” a pawn, but it is double and weak and there is the threat of h4. He must give it back immediately.

17…Kh8(17… h5 18. Qxh5 Bc8±)

18. h4 Bf6 19. Nce3(19. Nxh6 was also strong.)

19… Bc8 20. Qf3 Bg7 21. Bh3 Rg8 22. Bg4! I like this maneuver very much. The bishop inches closer to a useful square. The “strong” knight on c5 is not part of the defense! It doesn’t have the choice of going back either as it must keep the c-file closed.

22…Qf6 23. Bh5 Bxf5 24. Nxf5 c6 counterplay, but not really. Black’s pieces on the kingside are a mess.

25. dxc6 Rac8 26. Qd1 Rxc6 27. Qd5 It is typical that the side with a space advantage can easily swing his pieces from one side of the board to another without a hitch. The side with the space disadvantage is just stuck.

27…Rgc8 28. Rad1 Bf8 29. Qxf7 Qxf7 30. Bxf7 White isn’t up material, but his pieces are much better and heh as pressure everywhere on the board.

5…Ne4 6. Qc2 Bb7 7. Bd3 f5 8. O-O Bxc3 9. bxc3 O-O 10. c5!? 10. Nd2 has been played hundreds of times, and is considered to be the main line.

10… Rf6 Black isn’t kidding around; he weill try to checkmate White with his rook and bishop and queen. His queenside development will be stalled, but for now that is ok. White might develop them for him, if for example he takes on b6.

11. Ne1! using the fact that the knight on e4 doesn’t have many retreat options with the rook on f6.

12. Rb1 Qc8 13. f3 Ng5 14. Be2 cxd4 15. cxd4 White’s down a pawn, but Black’s develompent is awkward. His bishop on b7 is exposed, the g5 knight will have to retreat, the f6 rook doesn’t do much but be a potential target. However White does still need to do something concrete.

15…Nc6 16. Nd3 Ba6 17. Bb2 Ne7 18. d5 Rh6 19. dxe6 Nxe6 20. Nf4 Nxf4 21. exf4 Bxe2 22. Qxe2 How the game has changed. White has a powerful bishop and still has the better coordination. Black has two passed pawns, but hey are not going to be a factor yet.

24. g3 Rb8 25. Qxf5 Reb6 26. Bd4 Rxb1 27. Rxb1 Rxb1+ 28. Qxb1 With material equality in the endgame it is time to take stock once agian. White is clearly better: his bishop dominates the open board and coordinates much better than the queen and knight.

28…c5 29. Qb3+ c429… Kh8 30. Qc3+-

30. Qb5 With little effort White has already blockaded the pawns. Now they are ripe for the taking.

13… h6 14. a4!? White is in no hurry to regain his pawn. Taking on c3 looks very dangerous.}

14…c614… dxc3 15. Rd1! Qe8 16. Qxc3 with the idea of a5-a6, with an initiative. Perhaps with best play Black can survive without issues, but it looks scary to not be able to develop.

15. Rd1 Nd5 16. Nxd4 Symmetrical pawn structure, but White’s slight lead in development gives him a nice and dangerous edge. Black needs just a couple of tempi to catch up to White’s position, but it’s a valuable couple of tempi.

24… Qxd5 25. Rxd5 Rxa1 26. Rd1! Rxd1 27. Qxd1 Rd8 28. Qe2 White’s queen here will dominate the bishop and rook. There are too many targets, and White just needs a couple of moves to safeguard his king against the combined action of Black’s pieces.

It was a back-to-back winner for World Champion Magnus Carlsen after winning the Armageddon tie-break #5 versus local bet Arkadij Naiditsch at 3rd Grenke Chess Classic held at Baden Baden Germany. 8 days after winning also the Tata Steel Chess’ category 20 super tournament. Magnus still has enough gas to successfully maintain composure and win his 2nd major tournament of the year.

When my friend reads one of my blog, I was being asked why am i just getting reports coming from other websites? Why do i not do my game analysis of my own, while i’m capable of doing that like what i do to my post game analysis. And also, he asked me why only Wesley So and Magnus Carlsen games am i fascinated of?

Well, for one, i do compile the games just between Magnus Carlsen and Wesley So, Wesley since the start, i see his games with much of an improvement from time-to-time, and predicted that he can reach beyond among the elite. And look now, he just belongs to the new recruited “Deadly Killer” in the line-up. Meaning, he can’t just be ignored. While Magnus, of course the new generation World Champion. I am also fond of his games, the meteoric rise in ratings. I’m figuring out if he can reach beyong 2900!

I can’t do my self analysis and write-ups as i am just doing my compilations through my mobile. I just need to type and grab the articles but of course, giving the credits to the owner. I just want to produce all the games played by Magnus and Wesley and compiled in a good order.

Here’s the round-to-round match-up of Magnus Carlsen at Grenke Chess Classic in Baden Baden Germany. Hope you enjoy the report and can be used for your future board analysis.

GRENKE Chess Classic Baden-Baden, is an elite grandmaster tournament. They have brought together an exclusive line-up, headed by World Champion Magnus Carlsen and 2013 Champion Viswanathan Anand. The tournament is being held 2-9 February 2015.
It has rating average of 2752, making it a stellar Category 21 tournament.

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Final score after Carlsen wins Armageddon

Tie-Break 5

What an exciting finish! Before Magnus missed an opportunity to convert his last round game against Bacrot via King’s Indian, he had to settle for a tiebreaker match between Naiditsch…In the tiebreaker match Carlsen won the first round, Naidtisch retaliated on round 2, and after two draws, The World Champion wins in the Armageddon…

As per Alejandro Ramirez of Chessbase.com it seems to be doing the same as Magnus Carlsen did in Wijk aan Zee: Carlsen has his second straight win after losing. This gives the Norwegian a tie for first with Naiditsch, who was held to a draw by a stubborn Caruana.

Carlsen, Magnus 1-0 Baramidze, David

Baramidze was holding his own until a crucial mistake was all it took for Carlsen to play like a machine and take the win.

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3 O-O 9. h3 Nb8 10. d4 Nbd7 11. Nbd2 Bb7 12. Bc2 Re8 13. Nf1 Bf8 14. Ng3 g6 [One of the tabiya’s (starting position) of chess. The Breyer has been considered to be a very solid, albeit a little passive, way of handling the Spanish as Black.] 15. a4 Bg7 (15… c5 [is considered to be the main line, trying to exploit the weakness of the b3 square with the continuation] 16. d5 c4 [which has been seen many, many times.]) 16. Bd3 c6 17. Bg5 Nf8 18. Qd2 Ne6 19. Bh6 Nd7 20. Bc2 Bxh6 21. Qxh6 Qf6 22. Rad1 Rad8 (22… exd4 23. cxd4 Qf4 24. Qxf4 Nxf4 25. e5!?) 23. d5 cxd5 24. exd5 Qf4 25. Qxf4 Nxf4 26. Ne4 Bxd5 27. axb5 axb5 28. Nxd6 [So far Baramidze has done a fantastic job defending and cdreating counterplay at the same time. His well placed pieces give him compensation even if he loses the b5 pawn.]28…Re6? [This, unfortunately for the German player, is quite the mistake.] (28… Bxf3 29. gxf3 Re7 30. Nxb5 Rb8 31. c4 Nxh3+) (28… Rf8 29. Ne4 (29. Nxb5 Rb8= [the pawn is regained on b2.]) 29… f5 [doesn’t leave the rook vulnerable to an attack on e6.]) 29. Ne4! f5 30. Nfg5! Re7 31. g3! [What a sequence! The knight on f4 cannot move as the bishop on d5 is hanging, and because of the awkward positions of Black’s rooks and the pinned knight on d7 his structure will be compromised.] 31…Bxe4 32. Bxe4 fxe4 (32… Nxh3+ 33. Nxh3 fxe4 34. Ng5) 33. gxf4 Rf8 34. Nxe4 Rxf4 35. b4 [Material is still even, but White’s knight on e4 is monstrous and the b5 pawn will soon come under attack.] 35…Nf6 36. Nd6 Rf3 37. Nxb5 Rxh3 38. c4 [Material is still even, but clearly Black’s pawns are less threatening than White’s. The position is very hard to play.] 38…Rh4 (38… Rb3 39. Nd4! [is a nice trick to keep the pawns alive. Taking on b4 fails to the fork on c6.]) 39. Nd6 (39. Nd6) 39…Nh5 40. b5 Nf4 41. b6 Rg4+ 42. Kf1 Rh4 [ Black tries to create some counterplay against White’s king, but it is insufficient. It can fend off for itself against a lone rook and knight.] 43. f3 Rh1+ 44. Kf2 Rh2+ 45. Kg1 Rc2 46. Kh1 Nh3 47. Ne4 [ The knight comes back to defend against Nf2+. There were other winning moves, but this is the easiest.]47…Rxc4 48. Rd8+! Kg7 49. Rb1 [And now there is nothing to do against the advance of the b-pawn. Blockading is not possible due to Nd6, forking the rook. One mistake is all it took for Carlsen to win a very Carlsen-like position.] 1-0

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Round 4

Carlsen bounced back with a win over Anand in a stonewall!

Anand, Viswanathan 0-1 Carlsen, Magnus

The Dutch! But the Stonewall version this time. Carlsen certainly wouldn’t have used this against Anand in a long World Championship Match, but the risk he takes makes sense in a small seven round tournament where he needs to start accumulating points if he wants to win.

1. d4 f5! [ The Dutch! Carlsen lost with this recently against Wojtaszek, and yet he wants to take it for a spin against Anand.] 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 e6 4. c4 c6 [ A different breed of Dutch, however, known as the Stonewall. It is a completely different system than the Leningrad (which involves kingside fianchetto). The positions are very complicated. It used to be a very popular “anti-computer” type of structure as the engines have little clue on what to do here usually.] 5. Nf3 d5 6. O-O Bd6 7. b3 Qe7 [ There are plenty of ways of playing this position, but on the basic level White has a nice e5 outpost and usually attacks on the queenside, while Black does the same on the kingside.] 8. Ne5 (8. a4 [trying to trade the bishops with Ba3, is also a common idea.]) 8… O-O 9. Nd2 a5 10. Bb2 Nbd7 11. Qc2 a4!? [ This cheeky advance of the a-pawn is quite troublesome. White doesn’t want to take it as it would ruin his structure some, but if it’s left advancing it will blockade the queenside by installing itself on a3.] 12. Ndf3 Ne4 13. e3 a3 14. Bc3 Nxe5 15. Nxe5 Bd7 16. Nxd7 Qxd7 17. c5 Bc7 18. b4 [ White’s space advantage on the queenside keeps his threats of attacking their alive, but as usual in these positions the pair of bishops is rather meaningless…. that is, until the position somehow opens up!] 18…h5 19. Be1 e5!? [ Opening diagonals is always double edged, but it is certainly tempting to play this move and activate the c7 bishop.] 20. dxe5 Bxe5 21. Rd1 Qe6 22. f3 Nf6 23. Bh3 g6 24. e4 [This move is very tempting, and it starts a series of complications that is very hard to calculate. The point of course is that f5 is hard to defend, but surprisingly, this gives the a-pawn a chance to almost promote…] 24…dxe4 25. fxe4 Bb2! [ Carlsen’s point – the a2 pawn will fall, clearing the way for the black a3 pawn. This will cause White enormous amounts of headaches, and he has to relatiate on the kingside quickly.] 26. exf5 Qxa2 27. Bf2 (27. fxg6?? [it’s important that this move is not possible.] Bd4+ [and it’s bye bye queen on c2.]) 27… g5 [Black closes down the kingside before anything bad happens.] 28. Rfe1 Qf7! 29. Re6 Ng4 ( 29… Rfe8!?) 30. Bxg4 hxg4 31. Rg6+ Kh7 32. Rd7?? [This is based on a big miscalculation.] (32. Re6! [and Black might still have chances to push for a win with 32…Rfe8, but his position looks a little loose and White certainly has play.]) 32… Qxd7 33. f6 [To me it is not entirely clear what Anand missed, as even though the move played in the game is winning, it is not the only one.]33…Qd1+! [The cleanest.] (33… Bxf6 34. Rxf6+=) (33… Rxf6! 34. Rxf6+ Kg8 35. Rg6+ Kf8! [and White has no more checks.]) 34. Qxd1 Kxg6 35. Qd3+ Kh6 [White has no more checks and material is currently even. The big problem for Anand is that there is no defense against a2-a1.] 36. h4 gxh3 0-1

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Round 3

Naiditsch beats Carlsen, again!

As reported by Alejandro Ramirez via Chessbase.com it was a big day in Baden-Baden as the standings changed dramatically. Magnus Carlsen went a little haywire against Arkadij Naiditsch, sacrificing a piece and then losing an endgame where he usually would have tried to push for a win. This is the German’s second victory against Carlsen in a row.

An exciting round in Baden-Baden, though one that was strange to say the least. The highlight is clearly Carlsen’s loss against Naiditsch, which came with a number of surprises. First was the fact that the World Champion sacrificed a piece for no compensation, and that despite the fact that he outplayed Naiditsch after that he misplayed the endgame horribly. Only half a year after the Tromso Olympiad Arkadij Naiditsch is able to defeat the number one player in the World… again!

Naiditsch, Arkadij 1-0 Carlsen, Magnus

This is a very difficult game to describe. Carlsen decided to sacrifice a piece in the opening for no apparent reason, and it simply did not pay off. He got compensation by outplaying his opponent, but when he finally had a good grasp on the resulting endgame he wasted too much time and the German player was able to promote his passed pawn.

1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nc3 d6 4. Be3 a6 [ Even though the Modern defense is not practiced by most top level grandmasters, it is not a bad opening. White needs to navigate it well to obtain some sort of opening advantage, and even with it the positions remain double edged.] 5. a4 Nf6 6. h3 O-O 7. g4!? [ A typical idea, White is simply trying to restrain Black all over the board, preventing him from executing his breaks, f5 or b5.] 7…e5 8. d5 c6 9. Nge2 cxd5 10. exd5 Bxg4?! [ Maybe an extra exclamation mark for how spectacular it is for the World Champion to do this, but another question mark for how dubious this idea is. Black sacrifice a piece for two pawns, but that’s basically all there is to it. ] 11. hxg4 Nxg4 12. Qd2 Nd7 13. Ne4 f5 [ Black also is able to kick out the e4 knight, but White can live without this square.] 14. Bg5 Qb6 15. Bh3 [ Naiditsch’s positoin is holding together and now Carlsen is forced to trade some pieces.] 15…Ndf6 (15… Qxb2 16. O-O [looks suicidal. White has the threats of Bxg4 and Rfb1, trapping the queen.]) 16. Nxf6+ Nxf6 17. Nc3?! [ When you are up material, there rarely is a good reason to give your opponent counterplay. In this case giving up a pawn was not necessary.] ( 17. b3) 17… Qxb2 18. Rb1 Qa3 19. Rxb7 Rf7?! ( 19… Rab8! 20. Rxg7+ Kxg7 21. Bxf5 gxf5 22. Bxf6+ Kxf6! [ Is just a draw, according to the heartless monsters.]) 20. Rb3 Qc5 21. Qe3 Qc7 22. Qb6! e4 23. Qc6 [ A little fancy, just trading was better.]23…Rc8 24. O-O Qxc6 25. dxc6 Rxc6 26. Rfb1 [ Carlsen again has three pawns for the piece, but now the pair of bishops and the weak a6 pawn give Naiditsch an obvious target. Not only that, but with the queens off there is little counterplay for Black.] 26…h6 27. Bxf6 Bxf6 28. Nxe4! [ A trade of advantages. The endgame after fxe4 is practically very difficult so Carlsen decides to give up the pawn again.] 28…Be5 (28… fxe4 29. Be6 Kf8 30. Bxf7 Kxf7 31. Rb6 Rxc2 32. Rxd6 [and the rooks simply destroy all of Black’s pawns.]) 29. Nd2 (29. Rb6! [just a touch more exact.]) 29… Rxc2 30. Nf3 Ra2 31. Bg2?! (31. Nxe5! dxe5 32. Rb6 Rxa4 33. Rxg6+ [White only has one pawn left, but it should be sufficient to win.] 31…Kh7 34. Rbb6+-) 31… Bf6 32. Nh2 Kg7 33. Bd5 Re7 34. Rb4 Rd2! 35. Bc4 a5! 36. Rb7 Rd4 37. Rxe7+ Bxe7 38. Bb5 h5 [ With the amount of Black pawns he has enough to compensate for the missing piece. However the most important aspect is that White has no real targets: a5 can now be easily defended by the bishop.] 39. Nf3 Rf4 40. Kg2 h4 41. Rd1 Rg4+ 42. Kf1 h3 43. Rd3 Bf6 44. Nh2 Rh4 45. Kg1 (45. Rxd6 Be5 46. Rd7+ Kf6 47. Kg1 Rb4 48. Rh7!) 45… Bd4 46. Rf3 Kf6 47. Nf1 [ with Black’s pieces so active and his threatening pawn on h3, it would seem as if only Carlsen is playing for a win.] 47…Be5 (47… d5!) 48. Ne3 Kg5? [ This move is already strange. The king will have to go back to f6 so it does nothing but waste important time.] 49. Kh1 Kf6?! 50. Nc4 [ Suddenly Black has done nothing, meanwhile White slowly brought his knight to take the key pawn on a5!] 50…g5 51. Nxa5 g4 52. Rd3 f4 53. Nc4 [ Black’s pawns look threatening, but they are not queening right away.] 53…Rh7 (53… g3 54. fxg3 fxg3 55. Nxe5 g2+ 56. Kh2 Kxe5 57. Bd7 [and the pawns start falling (Rxh3 cannot be prevented). Notice that the a-pawn is the correct color to win with.]) 54. Nxe5 dxe5 55. a5 Rc7 56. Ra3 Rc1+ 57. Kh2 Rc2 58. a6! [ Well calculated, those four connected passed pawns are not as relevant as the one passed pawn on the a-file!] 58…Rxf2+ 59. Kh1 g3 60. a7 Rd2 [ One last trick, if White promotes there is backrank mate.] 61. Ra1 1-0

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Round 2

Despite having played previously from Tata Steel Chess, Carlsen extracted a full point at the expense of Michael Adams. And now Carlsen becomes the early leader.

Carlsen, Magnus 1-0 Adams, Michael

It was the Champion took the early shot putting much pressure on and beating Michael Adams.

Just one week after the strong tournament Tata Steel Chess in Wijk aan Zee, Magnus Carlsen, Fabiano Caruana and Levon Aronian meet again, this time in Baden-Baden, Germany, joining Vishy Anand, Michael Adams, Arkadij Naiditsch, Etienne Bacrot, and David Baramidze for the GRENKE Chess Classic, an eight-player-single-round-robin. Although all games ended in a draw that seems all players are warming up.

Aronian, Levon 1/2-1/2 Carlsen, Magnus

All games were drawn. Seems all players are starting to fill up some gas. Aronian and Carlsen just met recently at Tata Steel 2015 tournament in round 5 and ended Aronian defeated via QGD opening.

The Tata Steel Chess Tournament has two main tournaments. They are played according to the ’round robin’ system, whereby each competitor plays in turn against every other during the tournament. The Tata Steel Masters has 14 participants and the Tata Steel Challengers has 14 participants. Both groups start on January 10th 2015 and the last round is on January 25th. All rounds in Wijk aan Zee begin at 13.30 hours, except for the last round on January 25th, which begins at 12.00 hours. The time control is 100 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 50 minutes for 20 moves, then 15 minutes for the remaining moves with 30 seconds cumulative increment for each move starting from the first move.

Wesley So has shredded any doubt that anyone could possibly have about his strength. After having a meteoric ascent, including his victory in the Millionaire Open, many still claimed that he hadn’t had a real challenge with the “big boys”. Well, here he is, with a fantastic 8.5/13 and cementing his position in the top-10 live rating list.

Here, I covered and followed Wesley’s game from start to finish. I consolidate all Tata Steel 2015 game accounts related to his spectacular games between elite GMs which proved that Wesley can play to that high level.

The longest battle of the day took 111 moves and seven and a quarter hours. It ended Wesley So’s undefeated run going back to April 2014 which was also more than 50 games. So’s problems went back to opening he was already under a lot of pressure after the nice 18.Rb5. They entered a Queen and Pawn ending where Giri had an extra a-pawn on move 36. Giri could have finished things much faster but he probably wanted to make sure and So stayed tough. In the end So couldn’t escape his fate. This results means that it is Giri who is half a point off the leader Carlsen rather than So going into the final round.

This was seemingly a very exciting game, but it was all prep. The players followed the old game Anatoli Vaisser – Efim Geller from the Sochi Chigorin Memorial back in 1982. Actually this game in Wijk aan Zee even finished a couple of moves before the Vaisser-Geller one.

A pawn sacrifice in a Grunfeld (does Black always sacrifice a pawn in the Grunfeld? It increasingly looks like it) left MVL down a pawn but with plenty of compensation. So blundered with the move 28.Re7, missing his opponent’s reply. However in time pressure MVL was not able to use his passed a-pawn and powerful bishop, and the game fizzled into a draw.

So unleashed the super-sharp Marshall Attack of the Ruy Lopez against the white-playing Ivanchuk (ELO 2715), sacrificing a knight on the g2-square to open up white’s kingside and overwhelming the Ukrainian with a brilliant attack.

It’s an example that a pawn can be stronger than a knight, ~ Wesley So in an interview after the game.

The game of the day in Wijk aan Zee was for me Ivanchuk – So where black in this position sacrificed his knight with 14…Ng2 and after 15.Kg2 a5. An amazing play on the whole board with the plan Ra6-g6. I was surprised that this idea was played last summer during my birthday in the Andorra open by Gozzoli ~ wrote Susan Polgar

[26…Qf3 Black is threatening to take on g3 and, if White recaptures with the f2 pawn, to play Qe2 followed by mate. 27. Be3 Qxe3! fails just the same. 28.fxe3 Rd2+ ] 0-1

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Round 7

So, Wesley 1/2-1/2 Radjabov, Teimour

Wesley So missed a nice chance to increase the pressure, but it was not a blunder as appaling as what we have seen in the previous examples. Instead of putting up more pressure the liquidation led to a draw.

GM Wesley So achieved another milestone when he defeated GM Baadur Jobava of Georgia in the sixth round of the 77th Tata Steel chess championships in Rotterdam.

In beating the 10th-seeded Jobava (ELO 2727) in only 39 moves of the old Italian opening of Guioco Piano, So gained additional 4.5 rating points and reached a personal high of 2781.4 in the live rating list.

Rating-wise, So is only 8.3 points behind the late American world champion Bobby Fischer, who reached his highest rating of 2789.7 on Aug. 4, 1972 during his world championship match with Boris Spassky in Reykjavik, Iceland.

A somewhat strange game. A Ragozin turned into a strange structure where Hou Yifan’s attack on the kingside (which came out of nowhere) netted her an extra pawn, but with a dubious pawn structure. So did not respond in the best way and Black’s bishop and potential passed queenside pawn promised her good chances in the endgame. After a mistake in time pressure, it was Hou Yifan who was against the ropes as she underestimated the danger against her exposed king. After a seemingly inexplicable decision on move 47 by Black to exchange rooks and go into a much worse endgame, it seemed like So might have good winning chances. However, the World Women’s Champion showed she had everything under control: her activity with the passed pawn created by the exchange was just sufficient to net the draw.

First against Carlsen, and now against Caruana, So has shown an extremely solid repertoire which has allowed him to equalize without problems, neutralizing any initiative that White might come up with. Today the Spanish served him well as Caruana obtained nothing from the opening and after reaching a completely equal middle game the players agreed to a draw.

Wesley So equalized without problems from the opening and never let Carlsen have even a hint of an advantage. Carlsen took his time before agreeing to the repetition, probably trying to find something better, but there was simply no rope to pull from.

Today I chose this game where Carlsen will face another young star – the winner of the First Millionaire tournament, who recently entered TOP 10 – Wesley So, originally from Philippines. In the first round game of So against Wojtaszek, on the 57 move in a very sharp position both players blundered and So missed his chance to win. Actually, this is the first game between So and Carlsen, so lets see what approach Magnus will choose.

1. c4 English opening – most probably the idea of the first move is to avoid the Gruenfeld defence or Slav as against 1…c6 white has 2 e4!? offering the Caro Kann Panov attack1… Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. d4 (3. e4 is in the spirit of the English opening, when black has a choice 3… d5 (3… c5 more risky approach 4. e5 Ng8 5. d4 Nc6 6. Nf3 cxd4 7. Nxd4 Nxe5 8. Ndb5 a6 9. Nd6+ Bxd6 10. Qxd6 f6 11. Be3 Nf7 when white has good compensation for a pawn, but black should be fine) 4. e5 d4 5. exf6 dxc3 6. bxc3 Qxf6 7. Nf3 with complicated struggle, for example 7…e5 8. d4 exd4 9. Bg5 Qe6+ 10. Be2 Be7 11. cxd4 (11. Bxe7 d3) 11… Bxg5 12. Nxg5 was in Aronian,L -Kramnik, V/Moscow 2011/)3… Bb4 After some move order tricks, the game entered into Nimco Indian defence – the most popular amongst the closed openings4. e3 Simple chess by Carlsen, Rubinstein variation is one of the most solid white reactions. Here the battle is on a strategical basis, many different pawn structures could arise4… O-O 5. Ne2 d5 (5… c6 has been popular recently and is a very exciting line – black’s idea is to secure the square c7 for the bishop’s return, from where it will be more active, then on e7, for example 6. a3 Ba5 7. Ng3 (7. b4 Bc7 8. e4 d59. e5 Ne8 is very sharp as black will soon open files with f6, while white is behind in development)7… d5 8. Bd3 dxc4 9. Bxc4 c5 10. O-O cxd4 11. exd4 Nc6 12. Be3 Bb6 and black was already slightly better Sowray,P-Delchev, A/London 2013/)6. a3 Be7 This is considered as one of the main black continuations after 5.Nge2. The arising positions are quite complicated with chances for both sides.7. cxd5 exd5 this move leads to more dynamic struggle, then the other continuation (7… Nxd5 Carlsen already played this position in 2013 against Anand. The game followed 8. Bd2 Nd7 9. g3 b6 10. Nxd5 (10. Bg2 Bb7 11. Nxd5 Bxd5 12. Bxd5 exd5 13. O-O Nf6)10… exd5 11. Bg2 Bb7 when Magnus showed up the novelty 12. Bb4 and went on to win Carlsen,M -Anand,V Moscow 2013)8. g3 this one has been the most popular recently amongst white’s options. White’s plan is after completing the development to achieve the e3-e4 break, but the things are not that simple. A downside of bishop fiancheto is that now in case of white’s typical minority attack with b4, white queenside will be left with light square weaknesses – c4, b5, a4 as the bishop is missing there. On the other side, e3-e4 is hard to achieve, as black will develop his bishop to f5, rook to e8(8. Ng3 is harmless after black’s typical reaction8… c5 with good chances to take over the initiative, for example 9. dxc5 Bxc5 10. Bd3 Nc6 11. O-O d4) (8. Nf4 is the old main line 8… c6 9. Bd3 Re8 (9… a5)10. O-O Nbd7 (10… Bd6) 11. f3 Nf8 12. b4 Ne6 13. Nfe2 b6 14. Rb1 a5 15. bxa5 Rxa5 16. a4 Bd6 17. Kh1 c5 with about equal chances) (8. b4 was the move which Aronian preferred a couple of times 8… Bf5 9.f3 h6 10. Ng3 Bg6 11. Bd3 Bd6 12. Nf5 Nc6 13. Qc2 Bxf5 14. Bxf5 a5 15. b5 Ne7 Aronian,L -Adams,M/Wijk aan Zee 16. Bh3 Nh7 17. g3 c5 18. bxc6 bxc6 19. O-O c5 20. dxc5 Bxc5 21. Kh1 Ng5 22. Bg2 Rc8 23. f4 Ne4 24. Bxe4 dxe4 25. Rd1 Qe8 26. Qxe4 Rc6 27. Qf3 Qa8 28. Rd3 Rd8 29. Rxd8+ Qxd8 30. Rb1 Bxa3 31. Bxa3 Rxc3 32. Rd1 Qe8 33. Bxe7 Qxe7 34. Qa8+ Kh7 35. e4 Re3 36. e5 Qb4 37. Qd5 a4 38. f5 Re1+ 39. Rxe1 Qxe1+ 40. Kg2 Qe2+ 41. Kg1 Qe1+ 42. Kg2 Qe2+ 43. Kg1 a3 44. Qxf7 Qe1+ 45. Kg2 Qxe5 46. Qa7 Qb2+ 47. Kh3 Kg8 48. Qe3 Kf8 49. Qc5+ Ke8 50. Qc8+ Ke7 51. Qc7+ Kf6 52. Qd6+ Kxf5 53. Qd5+ Kf6 54. Qd6+ Kf7 55. Qd7+ Kg6 56. Qd3+ Kf7 57. Qd7+ Kf6 1/2 Aronian,L (2752)-Adams,M (2707)/Wijk aan Zee 2006/CBM 111) (8. h3 has been tried by one of the experts of this line – Ivan Sokolov in Tata Steel two years ago but without success 8… Nbd7 9. g4 Nb6 10. Bg2 c6 11. b3 Ne8 12. O-O Nc7 13. Ra2 Re8 14. Nf4 Sokolov-Van Wely 2013 Tata Steel)8… Nbd7 (8… c6 9. Bg2 Na6 10. Bd2 Nc7 11. Qc2 g6 12. f3 Ne6 13. Na4 Re8 14. O-O a5 15. Kh1 b5) (8… a5 9. Bg2 c6 10. O-O Na6 11. b3 Re8 12. Kh1 Bf8 13. Nf4 Bf5 14. f3 h6 15. Ra2 b5 both lead to a very sharp position, where white e3-e4 is not easy to achieve)9. Bg2 Nb6 10. O-O Re8 (10… a5 this move is not immediately forced, as white is not threatening b4, the idea is sometimes to have a5-a4 to block the queen side 11. h3 more principled is (11. f3) 11… Re8 12. g4 h6 13. Ng3 c6 14. f4 Nh7 15. b3 Bh4 16. Kh2 Bxg3+ 17. Kxg3 f5 and white’s plan proved to be entirely wrong in Ponomariov,R -Eljanov,P Kharkov 2009)11. b3 seems to me as a novelty, b3 is a part of white’s plan – to transfer the rook to d2 without losing time moving the bishop c1, so it is a good idea to start with it (11. Nf4 Bf8 12. b3 a5 13. Ra2 c6 14. Rd2 (14. f3) 14… a4 15. b4 Nc4 is good for black coming with tempo to the weak c4 square) (11. Qc2 Bd7 12. b4 this move leads to irreparable weaknesses in white queen side 12… a5 13. b5 c6 14. bxc6 bxc6 15. Nf4 Bd6 16. e4 with sharp consequences in Bluvshtein,M -Swiercz,D /Wijk aan Zee 2011/)11… h6 (why not 11… Bf5 12. Nf4 c6)12. Qc2 Magnus changes the plan and is taking the chance – avoiding black bishop to appear on f5. In my opinion the position is a bit too strategically complicated for the taste of So, whose lack of experience can be used as a good base for Carlsen to squeeze the advantage12… Bd7 13. a4 Precise move – the idea is to drag the black pawn to a5, so later on black’s only possible counterbreak in the center c7-c5 will lead to weakness of the b5 square. Magnus thinks that weakening of b4 is not that important as arrival of black knight on that square is too difficult to achieve13… a5 (13… Qc8 is just impossible because of14. a5 Bf5 15. e4 winning a piece)14. Nf4 c6 15. Bb2 Both sides completed development, the opening stage is over. What are the plans for both sides here? Black needs to improve the knight on b6 – Nc8-d6 is possible treatment, to support Bf5. White’s plan is simple – he will put the rooks to e1 and d1, hoping to achieve f3 – e415… Bb4 after 20 minutes of consideration, So’s move is not changing much, he activates his bishop to b4 to get control on the e4 square and to impede f3 move for a while, I think he is planning Rc8 and c5 and in that direction he wants to build pressure on the c3 knight16. Nd3 asking the bishop to return or to be exchanged for the knight – this operation is clearly in white favour, so there is no other choice but to retreat, or maybe first include Bf5 (16. Rfe1 Rc8 17. Nd3 (17. f3 c5 is in black hands) 17… Bf5 18. Qd1 Bf8 19. f3 Bh7 20. Rc1 Nbd7 with balanced position, where both sides must be very carefully planning their operations.)16… Bf5 For the second time in the game So is refusing to place his bishop on more active location, getting control over the important e4 square. Now white can try Nc5 with intentions to exchange one of black bishops, or if Bc8 Rfe1 preparing e3-e4 and I don’t see any counterplay for black (17. Nc5 Bc8 18. Rfe1)17. Qd1 Bd6 18. Re1 Nbd7 19. Ba3 The same motif as in the game against Anand – exchange of the dark squared bishops is favourable for white as his bishop on b2 is biting the dust. On the other side, now the plan with e3-e4 will be senseless, as d4 pawn will become a long-term weakness19… Bxa3 20. Rxa3 Nb8 excellent idea – knight is coming to b4 via a6, while white’s future plan is not entirely clear21. Ra2 Na6 22. Rae2 white achieved the aim to transfer his rook to the centre, now e3-e4 break is the only available chance for white to open files for the rooks22… Re7 Black’s position is not easy to handle. Where to attack? How to make use of the b4 square and immobility of white pawn on b3? Should black open with c6-c5, then his d5 pawn will become weak, so the position is standstill, or maybe black can try (22… Bxd3 23. Qxd3 Nb4 24. Qd2 Ne4 to clear the situation a bit, but So doesn’t care much about choosing the concrete plan, unless his position is solid enough and no need to take actions)23. Ne5 Nb4 24. e4 Carlsen agrees to this move, which for some period will give him the initiative, but I believe black has enough resources to handle it, and it may turn the way around as now d4 pawn is isolated. But why did Magnus refuse the plan with f3 and e4? There is no time as if (24. f3 Nd7)24… dxe4 25. Nxe4 Bxe4 26. Bxe4 Nxe4 27. Rxe4 Qd5 black is at least equal28. R4e3 b5 29. Ng4 Rxe3 30. Nxe3 I agree chances are levelled, still black is on the more pleasant side30… Qe4 31. Ng4 Qc2 32. Ne3 Qe433. Ng4 Qc2 34. Ne3 Qe4 Repetition of moves comes as a good way to put an end to that totally correct but absolutely eventless game. I like Magnus’ opening choice to invite So in Rubinstein variation in Nimzo-Indian. He already had experience here and I expected a bit more aggression from him. He didn’t find a good plan. Maybe that f3&e4 which is the only active possibility for white, probably was considered as a risky approach and he preferred to stay and wait for his opponent’s mistakes. But So was just perfect today and he deserved the draw with black pieces against the twice World champion. Congratulation to So and good luck until the end of the tournament! 1/2 – 1/2

He played the middle game better than me. I overlooked things. Then I saw the chance to exchange pieces and draw. ~ Magnus Carlsen on Wesley on their 2nd round match up

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Round 1

So, Wesley 1/2-1/2 Wojtaszek, Radoslaw

A very topsy-turvy game. Wojtaszek’s king was always prancing around the middle of the board, but White’s rooks and knight just couldn’t coordinate to deliver a fatal blow. Slowly Black’s pawns crept down the middle of the board and in severe mutual time pressure Wojtaszek missed the tactic.